Exclusive: From the Green Room Up and Close with the Audio Masters
We are halfway through the HoF9 week and the event is not showing any signs of slowing down. If anything, the event is gaining speed and the days are passing by fast. Day 3 had a head start with multiple panels, workshops and green room sessions happening simultaneously.
One of the first Green Room sessions of the day was for Audio: Film, Tv and Games which was led by two acclaimed Hall of Fame inductees, Frank Scheuring and Gary Rizzo. Scheuring, who has gained over 15 years of experience worked on several award winning films, series and documentaries. He was also the supervising sound editor for the critically acclaimed film The Cage Fighter, directed by his fellow Full Sail Hall of Fame member, Jeff Unay, and Rizzo is a sound re-recording mixer who has worked on almost 200 projects and multiple Hollywood blockbusters like Dunkirk, Interstellar, The Dark Knight, and The Incredibles to name just a few. He is also nominated for an academy award this year for his work on Dunkirk.
As expected, the Green Room was overbooked an hour before it actually started. Both Rizzo and Scheuring were overjoyed to see excitement among the students and wasted no time to get right into the conversation. The students congratulated Rizzo on the prestigious Oscar nomination and he very humbly steered the conversation towards the students. The students were also very quick to ask questions, and the two Hall of Famers were more than happy to receive them. One student asked about the projects they were currently working on and both humored the group with vague details about the confidential projects they are involved in.
The students shared a lot of questions they were curious about. One of the questions that popped up was, ”how did those opportunities come to you?” To which Frank replied, “a lot of those projects came to me through pre-existing relationships from past works.” He also pointed out that the 12 students in the room were a close circle and were bound to work together at some point in their careers.
"He suggested that students keep good notice of the people they are surrounded with."
Rizzo was bombarded with Star Wars and Chris Nolan questions, and he explained the workflow and ethics that need to be followed while working with those names. He said, “every film is different and so is every filmmaker. With Chris, he never misses a single workday and never lets his team overwork. He never asks for more than what he asked on the first day and that says how prepared a person he is.”
The students did not hold back from asking some personal questions either. They were asked how they handle their personal and professional lives, to which Frank lamented, “I really screwed up a lot for the first 15 years of my career because I spent a lot of time working too hard. I missed a lot of dinners with family, birthdays and all those times but I was riding high on my career.” He later added, “ but for the past two years it has been better.” He also explained how he started to compartmentalize his days, where Rizzo also added, “it is very hard to manage time as a freelancer, so making the time off is huge.”
The session came to an end on this note and the students walked out with an immense amount of information on the professional life in the entertainment world and also got some tips on balancing life and work. The students were definitely not done with the questions but within the short session, they definitely gained a lot.
This was only one green room session, there are more of those sessions and you could be in them! Be sure to consult the events app and plan ahead! If you miss anything we are here to update you! Be sure to be back and follow us on social media for more news and stories.
Tags: Hall of Fame, audio, green room, HoF9, Gary Rizzo, Frank Scheuring
